This implausible but rather enjoyable yarn has a man (Carleton Hobbs) dying at the St. Columba Mental Institute and willing his haunted house – “Marr’s Grove” – and the money hidden there to his only friend, fellow inmate Edward Foster (Robert Hardy).
Masquerading as the asylum administrator, Foster moves into the house to look for the money and becomes possessed by the personality of the original owner, Andrew Marr – a man who fell in love with his children’s governess, Alta (Jane Birkin) and went insane when they murdered her.
Hardy, in a dual role, is good at showing a man going in and out of madness. He is appropriately austere, dense, indecisive, violent and confused.
The local doctor (Christopher Lee) and his sister (Joan Collins, sexy but chrome-like) – along with Marr’s solicitor, Mr Prescott (Herbert Lom) – feign friendship with the new owner, but all they want is to find the money.
Shot at Harefield Place (at one time the Uxbridge Country Hospital) in Ickenham, West London, the fine photography by Ernest Steward conveys an accurate sense of the English countryside.
Dr Ian Mandeville
Christopher Lee Sarah Mandeville
Joan Collins Prescott
Herbert Lom Alta
Jane Birkin Edward Foster/Andrew Marr
Robert Hardy Victoria
Jean Marsh Old Marr
Carleton Hobbs Baxter
Roy Evans Sgt. Riley
Martin Boddey Bank Manager
John Glyn-Jones Doctor
John Levene Jessica
Jennifer Thanisch Francis
Michael McVey Asylum Gatekeeper
Barry Linehan Woman on Hill
Linda Gray Children on Hill
Lysandre De La Haye
Earl Rhodes
Director Don Sharp
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Masquerading as the asylum administrator, Foster moves into the house to look for the money and becomes possessed by the personality of the original owner, Andrew Marr – a man who fell in love with his children’s governess, Alta (Jane Birkin) and went insane when they murdered her.
Dr Ian Mandeville
